Tag: Quinton Jackson

UFC 186: It Would Be a Total Buzzkill If Rampage Jackson Can’t Fight on the Card

With T.J. Dillashaw dropping out of the main event, it is now even more important to have Quinton “Rampage” Jackson fighting at UFC 186. The card lacks star power with Rampage off the card. If politics and legalities go through, MMA fans will be let do…

With T.J. Dillashaw dropping out of the main event, it is now even more important to have Quinton “Rampage” Jackson fighting at UFC 186. The card lacks star power with Rampage off the card. If politics and legalities go through, MMA fans will be let down. 

There are two things that fans love about Rampage: his persona and his desire to participate in exciting fights.

According to Fox Sports’ Elias Cepeda, when Rampage was fighting in the now defunct Pride organization, he had a cell phone number he made public and would chat with fans for a few minutes if he was available.

Cepeda also notes that as Rampage’s fame grew, he had less privacy and wanted financial compensation to balance that out:

To be brutally honest—I love the fans but I can only take them in small doses. Man, I’m just like them. MMA fighters are so accessible to fans. I just want to be able to enjoy some private times. If not, there has to be the financial compensation to cover it.

On top of that, Rampage is a character.

During a media scrum at UFC 182, he flirted with a female reporter, challenged a male reporter to a fight and complimented another’s mustache (h/t Heidi Fang of The Fight Corner).

Rampage also noted a lack of personality in the fighters in the UFC during the media scrum: 

I think the UFC needs a little more excitement. I’ve been following a little bit and it’s been kind of boring.

It needs a little personality. Should I do personality classes for some of these fighters or something like that? Fighting is only half of it. You guys need some personality sometime.

Sometimes fighters are just too uptight, their egos. They want to be tough guys and stuff like that. Come on man, you’re an MMA fighter. Everybody already knows you’re tough.

Fans also know that when Rampage is in the Octagon, it will be an exciting fight. He has been a part of three fights deemed “Fight of the Night,” including his loss to Jon Jones. He has also been awarded two “Knockouts of the Night,” including his knockout victory over Chuck Liddell. 

Perhaps due to his older age and established career, he doesn’t care about the outcome of fights anymore. He tells Mike Bohn of MMAJunkie.com:

People are stuck on winning and losing, that’s an American mentality. I’m over it. I don’t need to think the way everyone else does. I just want to come and focus on what made me popular—giving exciting fights. The fans love me, so the UFC brought me back.

Rampage is right: The fans do love him. Otherwise, there would be very little buzz for UFC 186. Hopefully, all of his efforts in the gym were not due to his legal issues with Bellator.

But Rampage doesn’t appear to have any hard feelings, as he sent out a playful shot to Bellator president Scott Coker: 

 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Bellator Files Lawsuit Against Rampage, Puts UFC Return in Jeopardy

Bellator isn’t letting Quinton “Rampage” Jackson go without a fight.
A statement was released to Bleacher Report on Monday detailing a lawsuit that has been filed against the MMA legend for signing with the UFC and breaching his exclu…

Bellator isn’t letting Quinton “Rampage” Jackson go without a fight.

A statement was released to Bleacher Report on Monday detailing a lawsuit that has been filed against the MMA legend for signing with the UFC and breaching his exclusive six-fight contract with Bellator:

Today, Bellator MMA was compelled to go to court to stop Quinton “Rampage” Jackson from fighting in an April 25th bout promoted by Bellator’s competitor, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).  Jackson, who has completed only three fights of his exclusive six-fight contract with Bellator, is barred by contract from fighting for any promoter other than Bellator. Our lawsuit for an injunction and related relief – filed in the Chancery Division of the Superior Court in Burlington County, New Jersey – will compel Jackson to honor his contractual agreement. We look forward to having one of our MMA stars fighting for Bellator again.

A growing rift between Rampage and UFC management resulted in the former light heavyweight champ leaving and signing with Bellator in 2013.

Along with competing in MMA, Rampage’s new contract also gave him the opportunity to moonlight as a professional wrestler in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). The decision seemed like a no-brainer for Rampage to join forces with the Viacom-owned promotion.

But the honeymoon was short-lived.

After defeating Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in May 2014, Rampage complained that Bellator wasn’t holding up its end of the contract. According to MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani, Bellator refused to provide the pay-per-view numbers for the Lawal fight, which they were contractually obligated to do.

After spending 45 days attempting to fix the issue, Rampage terminated his contract and re-signed with the UFC. Despite walking out on his Bellator contract, Rampage was convinced no legal ramifications would come from his actions. He told Fox Sports in an interview in January that he could counter-sue Bellator for $10-20 million.

Bellator President Scott Coker sent fair warning out in December that the promotion would fight to protect its contractual rights.

Rampage was slated to fight Fabio Maldonado on April 25 at UFC 186, but legal action by Bellator now puts that fight in jeopardy. There are definitely some similarities between this situation and the one that unfolded between the UFC and Randy Couture several years ago.

While still under contract with the UFC, Couture attempted to sign a contract with a different promotion to set the wheels in motion for a superfight with Fedor Emelianenko. However, the UFC filed a lawsuit against Couture for breaching his initial contract, thus sending Couture back to the UFC and ending any hopes of Couture vs. Emelianenko ever happening.

Rampage may not want to unpack his bags just yet.

 

Jordy McElroy is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon and FanRag Sports.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

What Should the UFC Do Now with Alexander Gustafsson?

The Mauler has known better days.
Alexander Gustafsson finds himself at loose ends after Saturday’s first-round TKO loss to Anthony Johnson at UFC on Fox 14. Once thought to be among the biggest threats to light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, he…

The Mauler has known better days.

Alexander Gustafsson finds himself at loose ends after Saturday’s first-round TKO loss to Anthony Johnson at UFC on Fox 14. Once thought to be among the biggest threats to light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, he now faces a long road to rebuilding his standing in the fight company’s marquee division.

It’s been a precipitous drop for a guy who appeared on the verge of winning the gold for 20-odd minutes at UFC 165, back in September 2013. But at 28 years old, he’s obviously far from done.

Here are the most likely places matchmakers will look to find Gustafsson his next fight.

Begin Slideshow

Dillashaw vs. Barao 2, Rampage vs. Maldonado, Bisping vs. Dollaway Confirmed for UFC 186


(Former UFC light-heavyweight champion. Undefeated in Bellator. High-score on the Pop-a-Shot. / Photo via Getty)

It’s official: UFC 186 (April 25th, Montreal) will be headlined by a rematch between bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw and ex-champ Renan Barao, and will also feature the UFC return of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson against “The Iron Hillbilly” (actual nickname!) Fabio Maldonado. Both matchups were previously rumored last week, but UFC president Dana White confirmed them yesterday during an appearance on TSN’s SportsCenter.

But that’s not all, folks. White confirmed five more matchups for the card, which are as follows…

Rory MacDonald vs. Hector Lombard: Yeah, we already knew about this one. The winner gets the next welterweight title shot. Or maybe the Hendricks/Brown winner gets it. Or maybe Kelvin Gastelum gets it? Cripes, who knows.

Michael Bisping vs. CB Dollaway: Bisping is coming off his guillotine-choke loss to Luke Rockhold at that nutso Sydney card, while Dollaway was recently blown up by Lyoto Machida. Fun fact: Bisping hasn’t won two fights in a row since 2011.


(Former UFC light-heavyweight champion. Undefeated in Bellator. High-score on the Pop-a-Shot. / Photo via Getty)

It’s official: UFC 186 (April 25th, Montreal) will be headlined by a rematch between bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw and ex-champ Renan Barao, and will also feature the UFC return of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson against “The Iron Hillbilly” (actual nickname!) Fabio Maldonado. Both matchups were previously rumored last week, but UFC president Dana White confirmed them yesterday during an appearance on TSN’s SportsCenter.

But that’s not all, folks. White confirmed five more matchups for the card, which are as follows…

Rory MacDonald vs. Hector Lombard: Yeah, we already knew about this one. The winner gets the next welterweight title shot. Or maybe the Hendricks/Brown winner gets it. Or maybe Kelvin Gastelum gets it? Cripes, who knows.

Michael Bisping vs. CB Dollaway: Bisping is coming off his guillotine-choke loss to Luke Rockhold at that nutso Sydney card, while Dollaway was recently blown up by Lyoto Machida. Fun fact: Bisping hasn’t won two fights in a row since 2011.

Patrick Cote vs. Joe Riggs: Cote hasn’t competed since a unanimous decision loss to Stephen Thompson snapped his three-fight win streak back in September. Riggs will try to rebound from his unsuccessful UFC return at UFC on FOX 13 in December, when his neck immediately gave out on him during a fight against Ben Saunders.

Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. David Michaud: This is not an MMA fight, but the finals of Top Chef Montreal. Can Aubin-Mercier’s innovative molecular gastronomy defeat the impeccable French traditionalism of Michaud? (Ed. note: Okay fine, this is a lightweight fight between two guys without Wikipedia pages. Both are 1-1 in the UFC. Thanks, Sherdog.)

Jessica Rakoczy vs. Valerie Letourneau: Rakoczy was TKO’d by Julianna Pena at the TUF 18 Finale in November, and currently holds the worst professional record of any UFC fighter (1-4 with one no-contest). Letourneau was choked out by Roxanne Modafferi during her elimination fight to get into the TUF 18 house, but was given a UFC contract anyway and won a tough split-decision against Elizabeth Phillips last June.

Dillashaw vs. Barao 2 and the Return of “Rampage” Jackson Rumored for UFC 186

It looks like the UFC bantamweight title will be on the line in addition to a former champion making his return when the Octagon rolls through Montreal for UFC 186.
While there has yet to be an official announcement on either bout, UFC Tonight’s Ariel …

It looks like the UFC bantamweight title will be on the line in addition to a former champion making his return when the Octagon rolls through Montreal for UFC 186.

While there has yet to be an official announcement on either bout, UFC Tonight’s Ariel Helwani reported on Wednesday the event will be headlined with the long-awaited rematch between champion T.J. Dillashaw and former titleholder Renan Barao.

The Team Alpha Male staple upset the Brazilian striker when they initially squared off at UFC 173 back in May, and the Nova Uniao representative was given an immediate rematch that would take place at UFC 177 four months later in Sacramento, California.

Yet “The Baron” would be pulled from the card for medical reasons, and his chance to reclaim the 135-pound title would get thrown on the scrap pile. The newly minted champion would go on to defeat promotional newcomer Joe Soto in the main event, and the former pound-for-pound ranked Brazilian would derail surging prospect Mitch Gagnon in his next outing at Fight Night 58 back in December.

While the next title opportunity was set to go to former champion Dominick Cruz, “The Dominator” suffered another knee injury and was once again pushed to the sidelines, where he’s been for the better part of the past three years. Cruz’s injury opened the door for Barao to get a chance for redemption, and it appears he will get precisely that at UFC 186 in Montreal.

In addition to the main event title tilt, Helwani also broke another rumored bout for the UFC’s return to Quebec with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson versus Fabio Maldonado.

It was recently announced the former light heavyweight champion had officially re-signed with the UFC, and if Helwani’s report comes to fruition, the bout with the scrappy Brazilian will be his first under the organization’s banner since he was defeated by Glover Teixeira at UFC on Fox 6 in January 2013. Jackson would go on to sign with Bellator, where the former Pride fighter found victory in all three of his showings for the Los Angeles-based organization.

The 36-year-old knockout artist made headlines around the sport by returning to the UFC, but his existing contract issues with Bellator could very well create some obstacles on his way to the Octagon. According to Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting, Bellator CEO Scott Coker has publicly stated that Jackson is still under contract with the promotion and they have no plans of letting him out of that agreement to compete in the UFC.

 

Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Daniel Cormier Next Fight: 4 Options After UFC 182 Loss to Jon Jones

At UFC 182, Daniel Cormier came up short and was handed his first defeat in mixed martial arts in a close, five-round fight against Jon Jones.  He is now in the position of being a title challenger coming off of a loss, and his next matchup will b…

At UFC 182, Daniel Cormier came up short and was handed his first defeat in mixed martial arts in a close, five-round fight against Jon Jones.  He is now in the position of being a title challenger coming off of a loss, and his next matchup will be crucial. 

He will need to put together a sizable winning streak to get another crack at Jones and the light heavyweight title, but his performance in the bout proved that he can certainly hang with Jones for five rounds and is still a legitimate threat to the rest of the 205-pound division. 

Where does “DC” go from here? Let’s take a look at four options for Cormier after losing to Jon Jones. 

Begin Slideshow